CARTES Trade Show For Smart Cards Coming To The United States In 2012
The team of CARTES and IDentification and CARTES in ASIA recently announced the launch of a new event: CARTES in North America, which will take place from March 5 to 7, 2012 in Las Vegas.
Based on the international success and development of the existing CARTES events, CARTES in North America has been designed to aid companies and organizations in the smart card, digital security and smart technologies sector develop their business in the large and dynamic North American market.
The U.S. market is the largest market worldwide for payment cards: 576 million credit cards were in circulation in 2009 and 507 million debit cards (representing 37.9 billion transactions). The average consumer has 2.7 cards each (cardholders and non-cardholders combined), and the average number of credit cards per cardholder is 3.5, which is one of the highest in the world. However the annual card fraud loss is rising and represents 8.6 billion USD (0.8 percent of annual card volume).
The U.S. payment industry is considering EMV implementation and deployment to improve payment security and offer services to cardholders. In December 2010, Travelex launched a reloadable prepaid EMV debit card for Americans traveling in Europe.
Contactless payment cards are increasingly popular in retail, campus and transportation (contactless smart card-based fare collection systems are either operational or currently being delivered in many cities transit systems). About 21 percent of consumers currently have a contactless debit card, while 26 percent have a contactless credit card.
The arrival of NFC phones should accelerate the mobile payment development in 2011. While mobile phones are an integral part of American daily life, their use is still primarily for person-to-person communication.
E-government and security applications are also booming, with the usage of the Federal PIV card for logical and physical security or the electronic health record (EHR) exchange.
International companies in the payment, mobility and digital security industries are invited to participate in CARTES in North America to discover new market opportunities. An extended conferences program, elaborated by an international experts committee, will provide high-level content on Mobile Financial Services, Cards and Security and Smart ID, and other innovative sessions.
CARTES in North America is an event encompassing a professional trade show and conferences at the forefront of digital security and smart technologies for the North American market. For its first edition in March 2012, CARTES in North America will bring together international exhibitors to present innovative technologies in card manufacturing, payment solutions, identification and authentication solutions, mobility and digital security.
Highly qualified decision makers from bank and payment, telecoms, retail, government and transport sectors are expected over the three days of the exhibition, mostly from the United States and Canada. A three-day conferences program featuring international experts will provide a worldwide state of the art in the smart technologies.